• Report The joy of the Spanish engineers at Aston Martin: "When Alonso signed, one came running to the office, it was a rush"

They were pub rumours.

In the surroundings of Silverstone, where most of the Formula 1 factories meet, at the beginning of winter the engineers began to talk about a special Aston Martin, incredible data in aerodynamic tests, a car that flew in the tunnel of the wind.

But they were pub rumours.

Then it was preseason perceptions.

On the same stage, the Bahrain circuit, just a week ago,

Fernando Alonso

amazed with a race simulation worthy of those who get on the podium, some 57 celebratory laps.

Speed, consistency, reliability, a pace to dream of.

But they were preseason insights.

There are no more doubts, there are no buts.

Fernando Alonso was the fastest this Friday at the start of the Formula 1 World Cup. As clear as that: Fernando Alonso was the fastest.

Neither Red Bull,

Max Verstappen

and

Checo Pérez

, second and third, were able to improve their time in the second round of free practice, when all the drivers are tested for qualifying this Saturday (4:00 p.m., DAZN).

Reasons for optimism

The gasoline load, the gasoline load, the gasoline load.

At Aston Martin they repeated that it is impossible to know how much gasoline their rivals were carrying, that perhaps the Red Bulls or the Ferraris were saving energy for the session that will really decide the composition of the grid, but Alonso's time was equally exciting.

For many things.

Because perhaps the Red Bulls, who were only one tenth behind, were reserved, but the first Ferrari,

Charles Leclerc

, was four tenths behind and the second Ferrari,

Carlos Sainz

, was one second away!

Because Aston Martin's second-placed

Lance Stroll

, with a broken wrist, moved into fifth ahead of the two Mercedes,

Lewis Hamilton

and

George Russell.

And above all because at the end of the second practice session Fernando Alonso did a run on soft tires and was fighting face to face with Verstappen, the current champion, to see who was the fastest in each sector, in each corner.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Fernando Alonso

  • Ferrari

  • Bahrain

  • Articles Javier Sanchez